Category Archives: michael janis

"Common Discourse" at Pittsburgh’s Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery

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The beginning of the fall exhibition season opens Saturday, September 28, 2013, 5:30-8:30pm at Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, 5833 Ellsworth Ave in Pittsburgh, PA.

Common Discourse features the work of Jen Blazina, Ron Desmett, Susan Longini, Carmen Lozar, Heather Joy Puskarich, Demetra Theofanous, Randy Walker and WGS co-director Michael Janis. 

“A non-themed show is always difficult to describe,” notes gallery owner and director Amy Morgan, “Yet, the common bond here is the intelligent and distinctive use of the glass medium – both decoratively and narratively – which defines this exhibition.” 

Common Discourse
September 28, 2013 – January 18, 2014
morgan contemporary glass gallery  

5833 Ellsworth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15232

Hours are Tues. – Fri. 11 – 5 and Sat. 12 – 5, or by appt.

Posted in amy morgan, carmen lozar, common discourse, demetra theofanous, Heather Joy Puskarich, jen blazina, michael janis, morgan contemporary glass, pittsburgh, randy walker, ron desmett, susan longing | Leave a reply

James Renwick Alliance names WGS’ Michael Janis as Distinguished Artist in Glass 2014

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The James Renwick Alliance(JRA) is an independent national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing scholarship and education on contemporary American craft. 

The JRA assists the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in adding to its permanent collection of American craft of artistic significance and superior workmanship, supports scholarly research in contemporary American craft, sponsors public educational activities, and pursues other activities in support of the studio craft movement. Each year the JRA sponsors a “Distinguished Artist Series” when craft artists prominent in their fields conduct workshops and give lectures. The lectures are co-sponsored by the JRA and the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery.

Michael Janis will talk about his work at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) in early 2014.

For the 2013/2014 season, the JRA have chosen Washington Glass School Co-Director Michael Janis as the Distinguished Artist for his glass artwork.
Michael will be giving a lecture and presentation at the Smithsonian in early 2014, with details to be finalized soon. Congratulations Michael! We look forward to posting the details.

2012/2013 JRA Distinguished Artist in Glass – Andy Paiko talks at Smithsonian. photo by Miriam Rosenthal

Posted in distinguished artist, james renwick alliance, JRA, michael janis | 1 Reply

American Craft Magazine Features Washington Glass School

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American Craft magazine June/July 2013

The American Craft Council(ACC) is a national, nonprofit educational organization founded with a mission to promote understanding and appreciation of contemporary American craft. Their programs include the bimonthly magazine, American Craft, annual juried shows, various workshops, seminars and conferences, and more.

The June/July 2013 issue of American Craft Magazine showcases the cast glass work being made for the U.S. Library of Congress Adams Building. Julie K. Hanus – American Craft’s senior editor and Perry A. Price  -  the ACC’s director of education had come to the school in April and made a report on the process and the artists involved. 

From the magazine: The original doors were designed in 1939 by Lee Lawrie, the sculptor whose Atlas graces Rockefeller Center. They’re massive bronze works, depicting 13 mythological and historical figures of language and learning. Over time, they had begun to fail, straining at the hinges, and didn’t meet modern building codes. Rather than altering the historic doors to address these issues, the Architect of the Capitol made a bold decision; in addition to conserving the Lawrie doors, they would reinterpret these unique Adams Building features in glass.

Jeff Wallin and Ray Ahlgren of Fireart Glass in Portland, OR casting the glass panels. Photo by Charlie Lieberman

Review of each of the LOC cast glass panels with the Architect of the Capitol. L-R Paul Zimmerman/HITT Contracting, William Warmus/Art critic, Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Kevin Hildebrand/AOC, Erwin Timmers.

The doors began installation in the spring of 2013 and the entry areas began to transform.

From the interior of East facing building lobby.
The exterior of the first set of six pairs of doors.

The magazine will be on the stands soon – and is online right now! – Click HERE to jump to the American Craft Council website.

Washington Glass Studio team L-R Tim Tate, Sean Hennessey, Michael Janis, Audrey Wilson, Erwin Timmers

Posted in AOC, architect of the capitol, architectural application glass, erwin timmers, jeff wallin, kiln fused glass, library of congress, LOC, michael janis, ray ahlgren, sean hennessey, Tim Tate | Leave a reply

Washington Glass Goes South (to Sunny St. Petersburg!)

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Duncan McClellan Gallery, located in the heart of St. Petersburg’s arty Warehouse Art District in Florida, will be showcasing five artists from the Washington Glass School.

Sean Hennessey, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Michael Janis, and Allegra Marquart will be the DC five showing in sunny FLA.

Renown glass artist Duncan McClellan was one of the featured artists in the first international US/UK exhibits “Glass3” held Georgetown in 2008. Duncan has opened a hotshop and gallery that features rotating exhibitions showcasing nationally and internationally recognized artists. 

The Gallery in itself is a work of art. Duncan has transformed a 7,800 square foot former fish and tomato packing plant into a beautiful, multi- functional space. Lush fruit bearing trees create a veritable Eden within the industrial area that surrounds it. The grounds have become a meeting place for artists, visiting dignitaries and the community. Duncan also created the DMG School Project – an outreach that provide educational opportunities to both artists and community.

Beer, wine and refreshments are available for a donation benefiting the DMG School Project.

Tim Tate

In addition to the exhibit, the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg will host an artist talk from The Washington Glass Group on May 12, 2013 at 2:00pm. Immediately following the lecture, the public is invited to a reception at Duncan McClellan Gallery. 

Washington Glass: A Group Exhibition
May  – June 2013
Opening Reception: May, 11 from 5:30 to 9:30pm
Artist Talk: Sunday, May 12 at 2:00 pm at St Petersburg’s Museum of Fine Arts.


Duncan McClellan Gallery

550 24th St., South‎

St Petersburg, FL 33712
FB event listing – click HERE

Posted in Allegra Marquart, duncan mcclellan, erwin timmers, Florida, gallery, michael janis, saint petersburg, sean hennessey, st petersburg, Tim Tate | Leave a reply

AACG Starts Year Off Right: Features Michael Janis

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visit their site: www.contempglass.org/

The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass (AACG) names Michael Janis as its “Artist-of-the-Month“. 

The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to further the development and appreciation of art made from glass.

Who knew the flavor of the month would be vanilla?

AACG members are primarily collectors of contemporary glass, mostly from North America but also from Europe, Australia and New Zealand, among other international locales. AACG members also include art galleries, artists, schools and museums. Membership is open to anyone interested in contemporary glass. AACG awards grants annually to arts organizations in support of specific educational purposes.

AACG co-sponsors the biennial event, GlassWeekend, with the Creative Glass Center of America at Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center—a weekend of glass where artists, collectors and galleries are present for a program that includes hot shop demonstrations, exhibitions, lectures, and social events. Proceeds of the event support the fellowship program of the Creative Glass Center of America and the educational programs of the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass. Glass Weekend 2013 will be at the Wheaton Arts Center in Millville, NJ, from June 7 -9, 2013.

Posted in aacg, art alliance for contemporary glass, michael janis | Leave a reply

Area Artists Exhibit at SOFA Chicago 2012

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Gateway artists and their work will be amongst crowds at the international  art show SOFA CHICAGO, the annual arts expo devoted to Sculpture Objects and Functional Art (SOFA). Celebrating its 19th year, SOFA CHICAGO is one of the world's foremost contemporary art fairs, featuring nearly 70 art galleries and dealers from 10 countries along with special exhibits by renowned museums, universities and arts organizations, and an extensive lecture series.

Gateway Arts Featured at the SOFA include:

"Unhemmed" Ani Kasten, ceramic, reclaimed wood,  plaster, photo by anythingphoto.net

Ceramic artist Ani Kasten will have her work at Massachusetts’ Lacoste Gallery space (#508). Ani’s ceramic and mixed media work takes their influence from nature as well as the nature of change. 

"Skyline", Ani Kasten, ceramic, reclaimed wood, plaster, photo by anythingphoto.net

Infused with a modern, minimal aesthetic, her - amazingly structured and unstructured at the same time - work references the built world as well as reminding one of a natural or ancient object exposed to the rigors of time.

Glass Artists Allegra Marquart and Michael Janis are both featured at Georgetown’s Maurine Littleton Gallery space (#408).

"Gecko Gets Told" Allegra Marquart, sandcarved fused glass and enamel, photo by anythingphoto.net

Allegra Marquarts’ colorful artwork delights in storytelling and mines fables and fairy tale for both content and imagery. Allegra sandcarves the panels of glass she fuses at the Washington Glass School, working on both sides of the glass slabs, playing with the translucent quality of the medium.

3 separate works - "Flying in Place", "Lessons Learned and Unlearned", "The Optimism of Language", Michael Janis, fused glass imagery, silver and steel, photo by anythingphoto.net

Michael Janis’ glass sculpture works are also at Maurine Littleton Gallery space His new works show how perceptions are based on perspective, where the mirrored glass cylinders refigure the distorted glass frit images into new shapes. 

"Flying in Place" Michael Janis, photo by anythingphoto.net

Both Allegra and Michael work from the Washington Glass School, located in Mount Rainier, MD. 

"21st Century Dadaism", Tim Tate, cast glass, video, electronics, photo by anythingphoto.net
detail "21st Century Dadaism", Tim Tate

Another Washington Glass School artist – Tim Tate – is featured at Michigan’s Habatat Galleries space (#1100). Tim’s incredible mixed media works exploit the beauty of glass and invests it with a narrative that takes the work to a new level. One work – “21st Century Dadaism” incorporates video projection onto cast glass components, with the effect of producing a disembodied human face, created from the disjointed. If Dadaism had occurred today, it might have resembled this. 

"Vegetable Peddler And Her Son", Tim Tate, cast and blown glass, photo by anythingphoto.net

His other sculpture works, from a series he calls his “Cabinet of Curiosities”, incorporate cast glass elements made from the “lost wax” process are a delight in creating surreal worlds. This is a breakout year for Tim, whose work is currently on exhibit at Mesa, Arizona’s Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum.

Tim Tate in front of Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, AZ.

SOFA Chicago 2012 - Friday, Nov. 2 through Sunday, Nov. 4; Preview Thursday, Nov 1.

For more info - visit the SOFA Chicago website

SOFA Chicago at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL

Posted in "maurine littleton", Allegra Marquart, ani kasten, habatat galleries, lacoste gallery, michael janis, sofa chicago, Tim Tate | Leave a reply

S.O.F.A. Chicago Art Fair 2012 Features Studio Glass

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SOFA CHICAGO From Technique to Artistic Expression

The critically acclaimed international art fair SOFACHICAGO returns to historic Navy Pier Friday, Nov 2 through Sunday, Nov 4, 2012, with an Opening Night Preview on Thursday, Nov 1.  The exhibition features masterworks of contemporary and modern arts and design, sculpture, functional art, and visionary art, plus related special exhibitions and lecture series. SOFA CHICAGO promises to be the world hot spot for international studio glass art. The American Studio Glass Movement is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year and the acclaimed art and design fair at Navy Pier will be center-stage. New this year, iPhone and iPad users can use the free SOFA FAIR App to browse the works on display at the show and identify works or contact galleries, simply by pointing their phone at artworks and adding them or instantly receiving information about that work. To download the SOFA FAIR App visit sofaexpo.com.

Harvey Littleton,
Yellow Crown II, 1984, glass

From the SOFA CHICAGO 2012 website: Art “dealer Maurine Littleton of Maurine LittletonGallery (Washington, D.C.), daughter of Harvey Littleton reports that half her booth space (#408) will feature “a selection of rarely seen (and first-time offered) pieces” by her father, including a “spectacular example” from his signature Arc series entitled Yellow Crown II (1984), direct from its exhibition at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wis. Littleton says it is the only one of its type still available; similar works can be found at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery of the American Art Museum and in major national public and private art collections.”
Michael Janis, Eclipse, 2012, glass powder imagery

Works by Michael Janis and Allegra Marquart will be amongst the artists featured in the other half. 
Allegra Marquart, Monkey Girl, 2012, glass

Tim Tate will be featured in Habatat Galleries space (#1200) – which has expanded their SOFA booth to accommodate 18 solo exhibitions!

Tim Tate,
The Deconstruction Of George Melies,2012, Cast and Blown Glass, Video
Additionally, the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation will screen their new documentary, The Toledo Workshop Revisited, 1962-2012. In a March 2012 residency, three young artists at the Toledo Museum of Art rebuilt a small glass furnace modeled after the one Harvey Littleton and Dominick Labino designed 50 years earlier. 

The 1962 workshop launched the Studio Glass Movement, and made it possible for individual artists to work directly with glass. This new film documents the week-long residency that honors the past and celebrates the future of creative experimentation in glass. Screenings will be followed by Q&A with Robert Minkoff, Managing Trustee of the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation; Andrew Page, Director of the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation.

SOFA Chicago 2012
Nov 1 - 4, 2012
Festival Hall, Navy Pier

600 E. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL 60611

Posted in "maurine littleton", Allegra Marquart, american studio glass, harvey littleton, michael janis, robert minkoff foundation | Leave a reply

Georgetown Book Hill Gallery Walk features WGS artists

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On September 14 from 6-8pm, DC’s Georgetown will have an evening Gallery Walk that will showcase art galleries located on the upper Wisconsin Ave – near Book Hill Park.

Allegra Marquart “Peacock’s Compliant”

Maurine Littleton Gallery will feature artwork by local DC-area artists including Allegra Marquart, Michael Janis and Drew Storm Graham at the gallery for the September 14 Book Hill gallery walk event.

Drew Storm Graham “Dusk”
The artists on exhibit at the Maurine Littleton Gallery bring to life an otherwise cold and transparent medium in their glass art, which flaunts dimensions and depth of color unmatched by other art media. Contemporary glass art by local artists has been displayed at the gallery since its opening in 1984; each work reflecting new interpretations and uses of a range of traditional craft media.

Michael Janis “Eclipse”

September 14 from 6-8pm

Maurine Littleton Gallery

1667 Wisconsin Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20007

phone: 202-333-9307

Posted in "maurine littleton", Allegra Marquart, book hill park, drew storm graham, gallery walk, michael janis, september 14 | Leave a reply

Bringing Light To The Dark Side

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Novie Trump is a world renown ceramic artist, working from Flux Studios, located right next door to the Washington Glass School. Her poetic sculptural work often involves depictions of nature – presented in unexpected and captivating ways. 

Novie Trump Escape Installation of porcelain butterflies and ceramic book
Ceramic, Acrylic Rods, Steel 60” x 60” x 24”(variable)

Novie is working on a commissioned artwork piece that came to her via Project 4 Gallery: to create large scale installation that will be located in the new Farmers & Fishers restaurant now being built at the Georgetown waterfront.

Her artwork design calls for many porcelain bees to be clustered around illuminated hives are various locations. The design of the beehive has brought her to the glass studio – and it is a chance for the glass artists to bring Novie over to the dark – or rather – the glassy side.

Erwin Timmers offers some adventurous suggestions to Novie, but from the expressions on both her and Tim Tate’s face, they seem unlikely to be incorporated. 
A sample of Novie Trump’s porcelain bees

Novie chose to work with illuminated glass – creating a pattern of cellular hive divisions with frit powder fused to glass, and slumped over a tapered form. The WGS fritmaster – Michael Janis – offered Novie some pointers on how to manipulate the powder.

Novie Trump and Michael Janis share a laugh as they work
Novie sifts glass powder onto a sheet of glass
Manipulating frit powder is a delicate operation
Novie Trump and Michael Janis evaluate the glass’ progress prior to loading the layer in a kiln for firing

After fusing, the samples are compared by Novie Trump for her preferred selection of color and texture combination 

Novie made many studies of the color and textures and tested the samples with light source alternates.
The glass will later be slumped and a housing for the lighting made in the glass school’s welding shop. Novie will be making the rest of her porcelain swarms and fusing the glass in the next few months, and she promises to send us photos of the finished work.

Posted in crossover medium, flux studios, glass and ceramic, light sculpture, michael janis, novie trump, porcelain, project 4 gallery, scraffito, sgraffitto | 1 Reply

Bullseye RCBA Gallery Opens Painterly Glass Exhibit

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>Bullseye Glass had earlier this year opened their new facility in the California’s Bay area near the Silicon Valley/Berkely/San Francisco corridor of Emeryville, CA. The place is called Resource Center Bay Area (RCBA) and this facility (the third of BE owned centers) offers workshops, supplies and a gallery.

RCBA, Bullseye Glass’ new home in California. 4514 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA

One of the upcoming exhibits at the RCBA Gallery opens this coming Saturday, Aug 4, 2012. Titled: Facture: Artists on the Forefront of Painterly Glass, a number of the works were shown at BE’s Portland gallery early this year in a show of the same name. The exhibit will showcase kilnformed glass paintings (mostly frit on sheet glass) from the artists Abi Spring, Kari Minnick, Martha Pfanschmidt, Ted Sawyer, Jeff Wallin, and WGS’ Michael Janis.

Jeff Wallin Residue of a Figure Study

kilnformed glass

from the BE website:

Facture: Artists at the Forefront of Painterly Glass is a group exhibition that explores many of the concerns of contemporary painting, but does this exploration with glass. Painting exists in a continuum with centuries of tradition while simultaneously embracing aspects of sculpture, installation and collage. Painting today goes beyond pigment on a surface; it is an approach to image making that encompasses the ways in which a material is used to construct a work, how an artist approaches a subject, and even how an image is conceived. The artists included in Facture are constructing paintings using glass.

Michael Janis Observation of Signals

kilnformed glass and steel 

Glass, unlike traditional painting materials, is both surface and solid. Value and intensity can be created on the suface as well as volumetrically. Paintings made from glass are image and object; illusion and reality, and these artists, at the forefront of this young method, are scratching at the boundaries of both.

Martha Pfanschmidt Last Year

kilnformed and coldworked glass

View the exhibition: Bullseye Resource Center Bay Area Gallery, August 4 – October 20, 2012.

Opening Reception: Saturday, August 4, 3–5pm. 4514 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA 94608
Go to map & driving directions

Posted in bay area, BE, bullseye gallery, crossover medium, emeryville, facture, jeff wallin, martha pfanschmidt, michael janis, painterly glass | Leave a reply